


Spooked

by afteriwake



Series: A Thousand Different Lives [10]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Apologetic Molly, College Student Meena, College Student Molly, Costumes, F/M, First Meetings, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Injured John, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Molly Gets Ditched, POV Molly Hooper, Poor John, Pre-Relationship, college student john
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 05:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10326197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Meena convinces Molly to leave her dorm for the university’s Halloween celebrations, but when she ditches Molly in the Haunted House, Molly’s night takes a turn for the interesting when she punches a zombie trying to deliver a message.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic was written for **hobbitlover89** , who had requested a university AU fic with a John/Molly ship, and I paired it with another AU I had from **xaquaangelx** that went " _You’re an actor in a haunted house and I accidentally punched you in the face when you scared me_ " because I thought that would be a hilarious first meeting. I hope you enjoy!

“I would much rather just stay and study,” Molly said, gesturing to the stack of books to her right. “You know Archer is a pain in the arse when there’s a holiday on the weekend. She looks for any excuse to drop a surprise exam on us.”

Meena rolled her eyes and tugged Molly’s other arm. “It’s Halloween, love. Time for you to loosen up, be someone you’re not for a change.”

“Someone cool?” Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You know I always think you’re cool, even if you’re a nerd,” Meena shot back, and Molly had to grin at that. That was why they were friends, and had been for years. Molly eyed the early eighties era Madonna get-up on her bed and Meena watched with a grin on her face. “You know if anyone can pull the tarted up bride look it’s you.”

“Just don’t expect me to writhe around on the floor or anything,” she said, allowing Meena to pull her away from her desk. “Are we going to a party?”

“There’s a celebration going on in the quad. Haunted house, booths, things like that.” Meena let go of her hand and went to the dress, picking it up and then shaking it once. “Get a move on! We have tarting up to do!”

A bit of dark lipstick, wild eyeshadow and a whole mess of hairspray later and the two of them joined the crowd outside. Molly really wasn’t the type to do much in university. She was pulling more than the average course load, trying to go pre-med as well as taking classes in forensic science. She’d always been fascinated in the field of forensic pathology, from an early age, and while it had made some people rather nervous and worried about her, she’d had equally as many supportive people help her get on the right track in school and then look into the right universities. She had even lined up an internship to help at St Bartholomew’s during her gap year.

And then her father got sick and the whole plan went to hell.

She almost put uni aside completely but he told her she had to go. It was his dying wish. So now, even though he was still alive and slowly dying, she was at uni, trying to do her absolute best. Most of the time that meant her nose in a book but she knew her father would want her to have fun every once in a while.

Meena looked around and then zeroed in on the haunted house. “Looks like it’s nothing to be scared of,” she said.

Molly, however, didn’t quite agree, from the looks of one or two of the people exiting. “I don’t know, Meena.”

“Oh, come on, Mols. You know I’ll protect you,” Meena said. “It’ll be fun.”

“You say that now, but if it isn’t...”

“If it isn’t, I’ll find you a nice bloke and we’ll get you a good snog. How’s that?” Meena said, taking her head. Ever since they got to uni Meena had made a concerted effort to land Molly _somebody_ , and without much success. Molly was hoping she would give up soon.

It looked as though the haunted house was one of the buildings that had a few large multipurpose rooms that had been turned into mazes. Meena kept a tight grip on Molly’s hand at first while things were tame, but after a while, she let go and wandered off farther and farther ahead. Molly had started to get bored until someone reached out and grabbed her arm from one of the doorways. She turned and let out a right hook, surprised to see she’d smacked a zombie in the center of their face. Their hands went right to it and they yelled “Damn!”

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Molly snapped.

“I was just trying to tell you your mate skipped off with our Bride of Frankenstein!” she heard a distinctly pained male voice say. “You’re Molly, right?”

Her eyes went wide as she realized this was _not_ part of the haunted house set-up. “Oh, I am so sorry,” she said. She looked around and realized there was a door to an office of some sort next to them, and took him by the elbow and led him in, turning on the light and sitting him on the sofa there. Someone had put black paper on the windows so the light wasn’t going out. “Let me see if I broke your nose.”

“No, I’ve broken my nose before,” he said. “You just bruised it.” He pulled his hand away and gave her a rather sheepish smile. “I really shouldn’t have grabbed you, should I?”

She chuckled softly. “No, not in a haunted house,” she said. She looked at his face. “I can’t tell with all the makeup but I’ll bet I’ve given you a black eye.”

“Probably.” He extended his hand to her. “John Watson.”

“Molly. Well, I mean you know that. Molly Hooper, I mean.”

He pulled his hand away and shook a finger at her. “You’re Archer’s favorite student, aren’t you?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” she said, surprised.

“I’m her TA. She likes your work. Says it’s neat and orderly. You’ll make a good doctor.” He grinned at her. “I think during your class I’m in one of my other classes, so that’s why we haven’t met.”

“Oh, so you’re pre-medicine too?” she asked.

He nodded. Yeah. I’m a few years ahead of you. I’m going to med school in two years. I think I’m going to specialize in family medicine. What about you?”

“Actually, I want to go into forensic pathology,” she said, a bit embarrassed.

“Really?” he said. “You’ll have to tell me more.”

“Right now?” she asked. He nodded. “Okay,” she said before launching into why she’d decided on that field. Suddenly she wasn’t upset at Meena for abandoning her. She had the feeling it was going to be quite a good evening after all...


End file.
